Limited to 13 innings last season and 18 innings this year, Damaso Marte is now expected to undergo shoulder surgery after shutting down his rehab.
“We’re going to pull the plug on Marte,” general manager Brian Cashman told Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. “He’s attempted to come back, but it just hasn’t worked out. That was the conservative route that’s been done, so now we’ll have to do the more aggressive route, which is the invasive side of it. Doctors will have to make decisions and talk about it with the player.”
Acquired from the Pirates along with Xavier Nady for Jose Tabata, Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, and Ross Ohlendorf in 2008, Marte signed a three-year, $12 million deal last winter. He’s logged just 31 innings with a 6.39 ERA while making $8 million through the first two years of the contract and the Yankees still owe him $4 million in 2011, plus a $250,000 buyout or $4 million option in 2012.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports Thursday that the Orioles “are said to have begun fielding calls of interest” on superstar Manny Machado and “are close to the point of seriously weighing whether to trade him.”

You’d think it would be a no-brainer for the last-place O’s to flip Machado — an impending free agent — for prospects, but Heyman notes there is “still a question whether or not longtime Orioles owner Peter Angelos” will give the go-ahead. One person familiar with the situation put it a “50-50” likelihood. Another suggested that it would take a massive return, which, sure.

Machado entered play Thursday with a sensational .328/.405/.635 batting line, 15 home runs, and an MLB-leading 43 RBI in 49 games. It’d be a real shock if he’s still wearing an O’s uniform by the end of July.

Heyman reported previously that at least nine teams made aggressive plays for Machado this winter, including the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Indians, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, and Cardinals. A whole lot of those teams still make sense here in late May — maybe all of them except the White Sox.